Alexander Litvinenko

Lord Pearson of Rannoch: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what progress they are making to fulfil their commitment to establish the truth about the death of Alexander Litvinenko in London in November 2006, and to bring those responsible to justice.

Lord Taylor of Holbeach: Sir Robert Owen QC has opened an inquest into the death of Alexander Litvinenko. The police have also undertaken a criminal investigation into his death. The Government want to see those whose arrest is sought by the Crown Prosecution Service to be put on trial in the UK.

Burma

Lord Alton of Liverpool: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their assessment of the recent Human Rights Watch report in relation to allegations of crimes against humanity and ethnic cleansing in Arakan State in Burma; and whether they have asked the United Nations Special Rapporteur to initiate an investigation and to assess the available evidence.

Lord Wallace of Saltaire: The reports from Human Rights Watch in April and the UN Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights situation in Burma following his visit there in February contain a number of disturbing and specific allegations. We continue to make clear to the Burmese Government that where serious crimes have been committed, those who have perpetrated them must be held accountable for their actions. This should be done through a clear and transparent investigative and prosecutorial process that meets international standards.
	Further independent investigative work fully to establish the facts would be required for an informed assessment as to whether ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity have been committed.
	We continue to press the Burmese Government to bring all those accused of having instigated, incited or carried out violence in Rakhine State to justice. This accountability needs to be delivered in a way that is transparent, credible and in line with international standards.
	The EU-sponsored resolution at the March 2013 UN Human Rights Council mandated the special rapporteur to continue to report on human rights in Burma for another year. It drew specific attention to the need for accountability in Rakhine State. Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR)
	staff are currently on the ground in Rakhine State, monitoring the human rights situation. We are also lobbying the Burmese Government to allow the opening of a country office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, with a strong mandate which allows it to monitor the human rights situation in all parts of the country.
	The issue of Rakhine State is under discussion at the current June Human Rights Council session. We will raise our concerns with regard to the situation there during the course of the session.

China

Lord Patten: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the imprisonment of Chinese writers Liu Xiaobo and Shi Tao.

Lord Wallace of Saltaire: I refer my noble friend to the Answer given by the Senior Minister of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, the right honourable Baroness Warsi, on 21 January (Official Report, col. WA164).
	We remain very concerned about Liu Xiaobo. We most recently raised our concerns about Liu Xiaobo and our broader concerns about freedom of expression in China in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office’s 2012 human rights report published on 15 April 2013. We are aware of reports about Shi Tao and remain concerned for his welfare. We continue to urge the Chinese authorities to release both men.
	Ministers and officials regularly raise our concerns about human rights in China with the Chinese authorities, and most recently did so at official level on 19 April.

Colombia

Lord Avebury: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what subjects are on the agenda for their discussions with President Santos of Colombia during his forthcoming visit to the United Kingdom; and whether they plan to offer any help in negotiations for a peace deal between the Government of Colombia and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia.

Baroness Warsi: We look forward to welcoming President Santos to the UK. We will take the opportunity to discuss a range of subjects, including human rights, increasing commercial links and the peace negotiations. We have provided political support for the peace process and have shared some of the lessons learnt from the Northern Ireland experience. The Prime Minister, my right honourable friend the Member for Witney (Mr Cameron), has made it clear that we stand ready to provide further support, if asked by the Colombian Government. We are in regular contact with the Colombian authorities; they are well aware of our readiness to help.

Colombia

Lord Avebury: To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they will ask President Santos of Colombia during his forthcoming visit to the United Kingdom about the mechanisms for participation of Colombian civil society in the peace negotiations between the Government of Colombia and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia.

Baroness Warsi: In November 2012, the Colombian Government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) jointly announced a mechanism for civil society participation in the peace negotiations. We support the willingness of both sides to engage in this way. We believe that the attendance of President Santos and large numbers of the armed forces at a march in support of the peace process in Colombia on 9 April demonstrated the Colombian Government's belief in the legitimacy of civil society groups and the contribution such groups can make towards achieving a lasting peace settlement for Colombia.

Colombia

Lord Avebury: To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they will raise with President Santos of Colombia during his forthcoming visit to the United Kingdom the possible involvement of Baroness Amos, the United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Co-ordinator, to help facilitate the peace negotiations between the Government of Colombia and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia.

Baroness Warsi: The noble Baroness Valerie Amos, in her position as UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Co- ordinator, would not normally focus on peace negotiations. We have not been approached by Baroness Amos or her office about a possible role for her in the peace negotiations in Colombia.

Communications Data

Lord Clement-Jones: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what guidance they currently publish on the acquisition of communications data where the subjects enjoy legal professional privilege.

Lord Taylor of Holbeach: The Code of Practice for the Acquisition and Disclosure of Communications Data contains guidance on the procedures that should be followed when communications data are accessed or disclosed under the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000. This guidance can be found at: www.gov.uk/government/publications/code-of-practice-for-the-acquisition-and-disclosure-of-communications-data.
	The code of practice does not make specific reference to legal professional privilege.

European Gendarmerie Force

Lord Pearson of Rannoch: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is the latest status of the European Union Gendarmerie Force; what is its strength; where it is deployed; and what is its purpose.

Lord Wallace of Saltaire: The European Gendarmerie Force (EGF) is a multinational initiative of six EU member states: France, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Romania and Spain. It is designed to assist countries, at their request, in the event of a significant breakdown in their central administration or rule of law. The EGF is designed to strengthen weak or non-existent local police forces, carrying out stabilisation operations and ensuring order and security until such time as a transition of responsibilities back to local forces is possible.
	The EGF can deploy in support of the EU, UN, the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe, the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO), and potentially bilaterally or as part of ad hoc coalitions. Declared operational in July 2006, it deployed as part of the EU operation “ALTHEA” in Bosnia-Herzegovina, and under the UN Mission in Haiti after the major earthquake of 2010. The EGF currently operates as part of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan, with 400 personnel deployed at the peak of the mission and numbers decreasing as responsibility is handed back to local forces.

Homeless People

Lord Alton of Liverpool: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what has happened to the occupants of the Salford night shelter after it closed, following a recent court ruling concerning the award of housing benefit; whether they anticipated the closure of night shelters as a consequence of changes to housing benefit; and what assessment they have made of the role of night shelters in assisting their users towards securing permanent accommodation.

Baroness Hanham: The information requested is not available. The Government have not changed housing benefit in relation to night shelters. The Government believe that night shelters can provide valuable support in assisting their users towards securing permanent accommodation. Housing benefit may be payable to claimants accommodated in a night shelter depending on the circumstances of the case.

Housing: Smoke Alarms

Lord Hoyle: To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they will legislate to ensure that every house is fitted with a working smoke alarm.

Baroness Hanham: Building regulations in England have required the provision of smoke alarms in new dwellings since 1992. Similar provisions also exist in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
	For existing dwellings, we work closely with fire and rescue authorities to promote the voluntary use of smoke alarms. The latest English Housing Survey reports that smoke alarm ownership in England is currently 86%, an increase from 8% in 1988.

Immigration

Baroness Hamwee: To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Taylor of Holbeach on 16 May (WA 26), what are the “sources of information available”, in addition to published immigration statistics, in the light of which they will keep the impact of the family immigration rules under review.

Lord Taylor of Holbeach: The other sources of information available to the Government in reviewing the impact of the family Immigration Rules will include the information and representations provided by those affected by the rules. Such information and representations will include those contained in correspondence with the department from parliamentarians, the public and external stakeholders about the operation of the rules and in the work of groups such as the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Migration, whose report on the impact of some aspects of the rules was published on 10 June 2013.

Kurdistan

Lord Hylton: To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they will consult the Government of the United States and the European Union with a view to the delisting of the Kurdistan Workers' Party as a terrorist organisation.

Lord Taylor of Holbeach: The Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) was proscribed in the UK in 2001. The status of all proscribed organisations is kept under regular review but it is not government policy to comment on considerations on whether any particular organisation will be proscribed or deproscribed.

Legal Aid

Lord Roberts of Llandudno: To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many (1) civil, (2) criminal and (3) family, legal aid providers were awarded contracts in each of the past ten years, in each region in (a) England, and (b) Wales.

Lord McNally: The Legal Aid Agency (LAA) does not hold the information requested for the past 10 years. This is because prior to 2010, contracts were held on a rolling basis with any new contracts generally issued locally.
	The LAA is unable to provide information on a regional basis. This is because contracts are awarded at an organisational level and where organisations deliver work across multiple offices (and regions) there is not a separate contract per office. As a result, data have been provided on an organisational level and have not been provided for each of the offices that operate under the contract and cannot therefore be provided on a regional basis.
	In 2009-10 the first centrally-managed national tender process was undertaken to replace existing contracts. Legal aid contracts are available for specialist legal advice delivered face to face and by telephone.
	Face to face contracts
	The standard civil and criminal contracts began in 2010-11, with family contracts (including civil (housing) work in some cases) following in 2011-12. The following table outlines the number of contracts awarded in each financial year:
	Number of contracts awarded
	
		
			 Year Standard Civil Contract Standard Crime Contract Standard Civil Family Contract 
			 2010-11 940 1,733 1,561 
			 2011-12 17 - 1,293 
			 2012-13 476 - - 
		
	
	Telephone Contracts
	Civil legal advice (CLA) (formerly community legal advice) and criminal advice (CDS Direct) specialist telephone advice contracts are national contracts and so cannot be split on a regional basis.
	The CLA and CDS contracts began in 2007-08, with family CLA contracts following in 2009-10. The following table outlines the number of contracts awarded in each financial year:
	Number of contracts awarded
	
		
			 Year Civil CLA Contract Crime CDS Contract Family CLA Contract 
			 2007-08 9 3 - 
			 2008-09 - - - 
			 2009-10 9 - 4 
			 2010-11 3 - - 
			 2011-12 7 3 - 
			 2012-13 15 - 4 
		
	
	Please note the following:
	organisations have been counted more than once where they have been awarded more than one contract type (eg holding a contract for civil and crime work, delivering civil and family work under a 2013 contract); figures include contracts entered into but subsequently terminated by LAA or withdrawn by providers; and details provided for face to face contracts exclude family mediation providers.

Legal Aid

Baroness O'Loan: To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many cases relating to (1) housing, (2) asylum, or (3) domestic abuse, were funded by civil legal aid and assessed as having “borderline” prospects of success in (a) 2008–09, (b) 2009–10, (c) 2010–11, (d) 2011–12, and (e) 2012–13; and in what proportion of those cases the litigant was successful.

Lord McNally: At present, civil legal aid is available to fund certain cases where the prospects of success are only “borderline”. The Government believe that, as a matter of principle, in order to warrant public funding through civil legal aid, a case should have at least a 50% prospect of success (ie moderate or better). We therefore propose that cases with borderline prospects of success should no longer qualify for civil legal aid funding. We have recently consulted on this proposal and are now considering responses.
	The information requested is not available as the Legal Aid Agency (LAA) does not specifically record whether the applicant was successful in their case.
	The LAA does hold data concerning cases assessed by the provider as having borderline prospects of success; this may differ from the LAA’s own assessment. The table below sets these data out, in housing and domestic violence cases, where the provider also reports a substantive benefit in the case. In such cases the provider is required to apply to the LAA and set out its estimate of the prospects of success. In contrast, for asylum cases, the provider has the authority to self grant funding and therefore the LAA will not have a record of the provider’s estimate of these prospects.
	It is important to note that substantive benefit means that the outcome reported provided a benefit to the client that was deemed “substantive” as defined in the 2010 standard civil contract. However, it does not necessarily mean that their client was the successful party in any litigation or that the benefit was proportionate to the costs incurred.
	
		
			  Housing Domestic Violence 
			 Financial Year Total Number of Certificates With Borderline Prospects Of Success Number and % Of These with Substantive Benefit Total Number of Certificates With Borderline Prospects Of Success Number and % Of These with Substantive Benefit 
			   Number %  Number % 
			 2008-09 98 50 51% 9 5 56% 
			 2009-10 65 38 58% 9 6 67% 
			 2010-11 44 22 50% 8 6 75% 
			 2011-12 52 35 67% 10 6 60% 
			 2012-13 43 22 51% 4 1 25%

North Korea

Lord Patten: To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Taylor of Holbeach on 21 May (WA 64), why they have no plans to resettle North Koreans in the United Kingdom.

Lord Taylor of Holbeach: The Home Office operates the Gateway Resettlement Programme in partnership with the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR). This demonstrates the UK’s commitment to supporting UNHCR’s global effort to provide durable solutions to the plight of refugees and sharing the refugee burden.
	Consideration of which refugees might be resettled in the UK starts by reference to the document UNHCR Projected Global Resettlement Need. North Koreans have not appeared in that document as a nationality in need of a refugee resettlement solution from a third country of refuge.

Retail: Rural Areas

The Countess of Mar: To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether provisions exist to require customers in rural areas to purchase certain goods from certain types of business, other than in the case of pharmacies; and, if so, whether those provisions are intended to protect the viability of businesses concerned.

Viscount Younger of Leckie: The Government are not aware of any other special provisions applying to customers in rural areas requiring those customers to purchase certain goods from certain types of businesses.

Royal Family: Travel

Lord Berkeley: To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Deighton on 21 May (WA 67), what was the total cost of Prince Harry’s flights to the United States; and what proportion of that sum was met by the Sovereign Grants Fund.

Lord Deighton: Official royal travel expenditure paid out of the Sovereign Grant is reported in the Royal Household Accounts. Information for each financial year is available on the British Monarch website1.
	Details of Prince Harry’s flights to the United States will be made available in the 2013-14 Royal Household annual accounts.
	1
	http://www.royal.gov.uk/TheRoyalHousehold/Royalfinances/AnnualFinancialReports/Annualfinancialreports.aspx

St Helena

Lord Jones of Cheltenham: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the current water situation on St Helena; and what measures they are taking to overcome the shortage.

Baroness Northover: Unseasonably dry weather has resulted in a localised shortage of water in the north-west of St. Helena. An island-wide hosepipe and sprinkler ban is in place. All residents have been told that they can use water for domestic purposes only and have been urged to exercise caution.
	Intermittent rains have already eased the situation, although without continued rain there is still a risk to domestic water supply. There is plenty of water in the other areas of the island and this is being transported to the affected area. Alternative sources of water are also being sought. St. Helena Government’s senior management team meet every morning to assess the situation and develop contingency plans. UK officials are in regular contact with them.

Waste Management: Fly-tipping

Viscount Goschen: To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many prosecutions there have been in respect of fly-tipping over the past five years; and how many convictions there have been over the same period.

Lord McNally: The number of defendants proceeded against at magistrates’ courts and offenders found guilty at all courts for fly-tipping related offences, in England and Wales. from 2007 to 2011, can be viewed in the table.
	
		
			 Defendants proceeded against at magistrates' courts and offenders found guilty at all courts for ‘fly tipping' related offences, England and Wales, 2007 to 2011 (1) (2) 
			 Offence description  2007 2008 (3) 2009 2010 2011 
			 Depositing, causing the deposition or permitting the deposition treating, keeping or disposing of controlled (but not special) waste in or on land without a licence (4) Proceeded against 403 572 807 858 884 
			  Found guilty 327 449 596 656 654 
			 Depositing, causing the deposition or permitting the deposition of controlled special waste in or on land without a licence (5) Proceeded against 99 182 217 130 89 
			  Found guilty 79 131 152 94 67 
			 Handling, controlling or transferring controlled waste without taking reasonable measures; failure to comply with the requirements of the Secretary of State; failure to take such measures as available to secure transfer of household waste to authorised person or persons authorised for transport purposes (6) Proceeded against 491 389 376 550 638 
			  Found guilty 361 278 275 385 451 
			 Contravening conditions of a waste management licence (7) Proceeded against 466 352 74 39 12 
			  Found guilty 335 242 48 26 11 
			 Occupier failing to remove waste or eliminate or reduce the consequences of waste deposited in contravention of S.33(1) EP Act 1990 (8) Proceeded against 16 28 21 20 16 
			  Found guilty 12 17 12 15 7 
			 Transporting controlled waste in the course of a business or otherwise with a view to profit without registering as a carrier (9) Proceeded against 69 119 143 161 221 
			  Found guilty 52 88 99 136 176 
			 Dumping (10) Proceeded against 298 175 135 69 56 
			  Found guilty 232 127 90 51 50 
		
	
	(1) The figures given in the table relate to persons for whom these offences were the principal offences for which they were dealt with. When a defendant has been found guilty of two or more offences it is the offence for which the heaviest penalty is imposed. Where the same disposal is imposed for two or more offences, the offence selected is the offence for which the statutory maximum penalty is the most severe.
	(2) Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that these data have been extracted from large administrative data systems generated by the courts and police forces. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when those data are used.
	(3) Excludes data for Cardiff magistrates' court for April, July and August 2008.
	(4) An offence under Section 33(8) of the Environmental Protection Act 1990
	(5) An offence under Section 33(9) of the Environmental Protection Act 1990
	(6) An offence under Section 34 (2A) of the Environmental Protection Act 1990
	(7) An offence under Section 33(6) of the Environmental Protection Act 1990
	(8) An offence under Section 59 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990
	(9) An offence under Section 1 of the Control of Pollution (Amendment) Act 1989
	(10) Offences under the Refuse Disposal (Amenity) Act 1978Source: Justice Statistics Analytical Services - Ministry of Justice.
	Ref: PQ HL427